The Real 'Fake News' Is The Mainstream Media

Tom Basile
, ContributorI write about the solutions, strategies, and values that will create an effective, mainstream conservative movement for a stronger America.Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

President-elect Donald Trump acknowledges spectators during the first half of the Army-Navy NCAA college football game in Baltimore, Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

It's been a little more than a month since an election that was the kind of seismic event in our politics that only happens once a century. It sent shock waves through the national political establishment and pretty much any other group of prognosticators that had been banking on an easy Clinton win. No one felt the sting more than the mainstream media. The morning after the election, anchors and columnists were making a collective stammering Act of Contrition about just how "wrong" they were about the election - and the electorate.

But in the month since, the so-called mainstream media have, as if in coordinated fashion, executed a transparent strategy to bludgeon the president-elect at every turn. Republicans, Conservatives, Independents and the majority of Americans who actually want to give Donald Trump a chance to lead will likely see through this anti-Trump propaganda campaign, but perhaps a review of their strategy is instructive at this point.

Media outlets have again shown they are doubling down on the same strategy that has driven their own approval ratings close to - dare I say - Congressional territory. That's right. Survey after survey finds the same media that has made beating up conservatives, Republicans and religious institutions an industry has seen their tactics boomerang on them. Even actor Denzel Washington blasted the media last week saying that, "One of the effects of "too much information is the need to be first, not even to be true anymore."

Hope for better isn't a strategy and change isn't coming. Here's the anti-Trump plan of attack in all its banality. Some of these elements will have a shelf life. Some will be part of a prolonged effort. The strategy has several key components that have quickly taken shape over the last few weeks.

First, they are advancing a strategy of attempting to tie the president-elect and his team to the so-called "alt-right" and neo-Nazi, white supremacist lunatics. Despite Trump and his transition team issuing multiple statements denouncing the activities of a number of groups, the media still provided hours of coverage to small pockets of hate groups that used the election as a recruiting tool.

A sub-component to this was advancing a message that the country was in turmoil in the days after the election because of widespread protests against the newly-elected president. Even Fox News put a graphic on the screen that proclaimed there was "Anarchy in America." Again, more sensationalized information that only bares a faint resemblance to the truth.

Yes, there were protests in a number of cities as well as sit-ins and cry-ins on college campuses filled with whiny young people who have little grasp on the realities of life. But to suggest that there is widespread discontent and a surge in the size, number and strength of hate groups in this country who are supposedly empowered by the Trump campaign or aligned with the president-elect is nonsense. Incidents that qualify as hate crimes, like racist graffiti did spike after the election, but a real, honest analysis of these events will show that a sustained, coordinated grassroots movement against American pluralistic values and racial tolerance is not developing.

This is what happens when you try to stretch 10 minutes of news into 24 hours of coverage.

Third, the press have pushed several key messages to delegitamize the president-elect. Let's take them in order. First, the media is aggressively driving the narrative that Trump didn't win the popular vote. This part of the playbook was dusted off from George W. Bush's 2000 election. Of course the big brains in the media never mention to their readers and viewers the simple fact that the Electoral College - whatever you might think about it - dictates the strategy of national elections. If you ran a popular vote strategy, you'd run a completely different campaign in terms of allocation of time and resources. The game is not winning the popular vote, like it or not.

Further, there is no evidence that had the campaigns executed a popular vote strategy that Clinton would have won. Actually to the contrary, given the marked enthusiasm deficit on the Democrat side, Trump would likely have mobilized more voters from his states than Clinton would have in hers. Also, keep in mind that Clinton did have a robust turnout operation in key urban and suburban districts where she needed to perform well with her base. She still under-performed in those places that also would have been critical to a popular vote victory.